10 Reasons Why You Should Be Excited for the ‘Veronica Mars’ Movie

Yesterday Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and the rest of the VM gang announced that the long-awaited Veronica Mars movie will be released nationwide on March 14, 2014.

The movie is a continuation of the show of the same name, which ran for three seasons before being cancelled. Fans have been upset about the series cancellation for six years now and this past March, Thomas and Veronica Mars herself, actress Kristen Bell, decided to do something about it. A Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise money to fund a movie. Fans, Thomas, Bell, and the rest of the VM cast were ecstatic to see that they had reached well over their goal, and thus, the Veronica Mars movie was green lit. When asked about the release, fans have been given “early 2014” as an answer. In addition, they have always been told that the movie would be planned for a limited release in theaters before reaching a wider audience through home video. Fans can rejoice once again, as we finally have an official release date, and the movie is actually planned for a nationwide theatrical release.

I’d heard great things about the show that started it all, but I didn’t give it a try until August. It tied me over until school started this fall, and even provided me something to watch while I was bored in my dorm room. It turns out that VM lives up to its hype. The show is indeed pretty great and didn’t deserve to be cancelled. I would recommend it to anyone who thinks they might be interested. If you’re still not convinced, here are some reasons why you should be excited for the movie.

1. The music

Okay, okay, so maybe this isn’t the most enticing reason. But trust me, after you’ve heard the VM theme song, you might change your mind. Famous for their single “Bohemian Like You” in the early 2000s, The Dandy Warhols experienced some more fame after their song “We Used to be Friends” was featured as the theme song for Veronica Mars throughout its run from 2004 to 2007. Take a listen to the song below and tell me you don’t think it’s catchy. The song itself has been used for a lot of promo for the film and the lyrics to the chorus could potentially be used as the tagline.

In addition to that, the series has had some pretty good music. Aside from a not-so-awesome rendition of “One Way or Another” by Kristen Bell, it’s featured music by Fun. frontman Nate Reuss’ old band The Format, Canadian duo Tegan and Sara, indie rock band The Perishers, and much more.

2. The witty and funny remarks

These days, you can’t have a show or movie with a cult following without some clever one-liners. Kristen Bell may not be the one coming up with the material, but she sure knows how to deliver it. Take a look at some quotes from the TV show below.

3. The guest stars and recurring roles

Okay, so some of these people, you might not see in the movie, but some will be. A lot of Veronica Mars guest stars and people in recurring roles went on to be known for other notable roles, or decided to work on VM after doing other notable work.

Charisma Carpenter and Alyson Hannigan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame both had recurring roles on the show. Krysten Ritter had a recurring role and later on landed several notable movie roles, as well as a role in the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad. Leighton Meester appeared just twice in a guest spot and reached fame several years later with Gossip Girl. Kyle Gallner had a recurring role in season one and a main role in season 2. Since, he’s been seen in guest spots and recurring roles in shows like Smallville and The Walking Dead, while landing main roles in movies like the 2010 remake of Nightmare on Elm Street. 90s teen heartthrob and Home Improvement alum Jonathan Taylor Thomas made one of his few appearances of the past decade in an episode of VM. Even Paris Hilton made an appearance at the beginning of season one. Sam Huntington, now known as a werewolf on Being Human, had a recurring role in season one. Aaron Ashmore of Smallville and Warehouse 13 fame made several appearances throughout the show. Aaron Paul, now known as a Breaking Bad superstar, appeared on the show. Rider Strong, most notable for his role on Boy Meets World, and Michael Cera, most notable for his role as an awkward kid an a lot of indie movies and Arrested Development, had guest spots. Finally, Max Greenfield, who’s now living it up on New Girl, once played one of Veronica’s romantic interests.

James Franco, Jamie Lee Curtis, Justin Long, Dax Shepard, and Jerry O’Connell are said to be making appearances in the film.

4. The mystery

So the premise of a 17-year-old girl working as a private investigator and solving cases around school sounds a little corny. I’ll give you that. But don’t write it off. The cases are what, well, part of, makes the show. We get to see Veronica in action. Throughout each episode, we’ll be trying to figure out what happened ourselves, as well as trying to piece together the season-long-arc of a mystery. Who killed Veronica’s best friend? Was the mysterious bus crash that killed several students really an accident? Who’s raping all these girls on campus?

The movie follows Veronica as she goes back to working as a private investigator after a very long break. We get to see her trying to help former flame Logan Echolls after he’s been accused of murdering his girlfriend. No doubt the story’s going to be a good one.

5. The romance

Veronica had her fair share of boyfriends back in the day and had to face some hard choices regarding love. Will the movie be much different? As the series ended abruptly, fans were in uproar over whom Veronica should really be with. Most were against her decision to be with sweet and likable Piz. They favored Veronica’s enemy-turned-love-interest Logan.

6. Family values

If anything became apparent throughout Veronica Mars’ run, it’s the bond that Veronica and her father share. After her mother leaves, she starts to realize just what a great person he is. Even after the whole town shuns him for supposedly falsely accusing a man of murdering his daughter, she stands by him, even if it costs her the social status she’s worked hard for at school. The two sacrifice for each other over and over throughout the show, and even though their relationship is occasionally strained due to Veronica’s tendency to lie about what she’s up to, they always seem to work it out in the end.

7. Friendship

Veronica being an outcast herself, she makes some pretty odd friendships throughout the years. Her best friend, Wallace, is the star of the basketball team and a pretty popular kid. After helping Wallace stand up to a biker gang, the two start to bond pretty quickly. It’s a running joke that their friendship is almost entirely based on Wallace doing favors for Veronica to help her solve cases, but we all know that it’s more than that. Underneath Veronica’s tough exterior… is a slightly less tough interior with a softer side.

Veronica also befriends troubled biker gang leader Eli “Weevil” Navaro. Like Wallace, she uses him for a lot of favors, but is always there to return them.

Cindy “Mac” Mackenzie comes into the picture when, of course, Veronica needs a favor from her. As she’s good with computers, the two slowly start to form a good friendship.

8. The fan effort

Sitting in a theater and watching the Veronica Mars movie is exciting in itself, but knowing that it’s all possible because of the fans makes it much more satisfying. There’s a certain beauty about fans coming together to make something like this happen. It gives power to the people.

9. Continuation

It’s no secret that Veronica Mars was abruptly cancelled in 2007. Fans have been hoping for its return for years now. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this is that it gives fans a chance to have real closure. Ten years after the series began to air, we get to see how Veronica has moved on with her life. We see her return to her hometown of Neptune for her ten-year high school reunion. This is the perfect chance for things to come to a close. However, when asked during a CNN interview, Kristen Bell talked about the idea of doing multiple Veronica Mars films after this one, and even talked about the possible revival of the series through something like Netflix. A similar thing happened with the cancelled Arrested Development. Fans should definitely be excited.

10. Kristen Bell

Who doesn’t love Kristen Bell? The girl’s a self-proclaimed nerd. Appearing in movies like Fanboys, a film about a group of Star Wars nerds, and shows like Heroes, which follows a group of people who develop superpowers. Her career has gone far beyond Veronica Mars at this point. Following its cancellation, she immediately signed on to be the narrator of Gossip Girl, as well as becoming known in cinema for movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, You Again, When in Rome, The Lifeguard, Burlesque, Scream 4, and Big Miracle. If you’ve gone out to see the newly released Frozen, you’ve heard her voice.

She’s probably one of the most down-to-earth and likable celebrities around today. She and husband Dax Shepard refused to get married until DOMA was struck down this past summer. If anything, that just shows how much she’s willing to stick up for her values. She’s a very funny and caring person. On top of that, she hasn’t forgotten about Veronica Mars. She’s always been nice and appreciative towards the fans. She was willing to work with them to make the movie work. She also thinks that she owes Veronica Mars for getting her start in her career, and the show is very important to her. She’s probably done a lot of growing up in the past ten years, but she’s still the lovable girl audiences came to know when Veronica Mars first aired.

So mark your calendars for March 14 and check out a sneak peek of the Veronica Mars movie below.